The Dodgy Side of Football Bets

Mention the word ‘bookie’ (bookmaker) to someone who is older than 50 and they might raise an eyebrow at you. In the early days, the bookie was a man who had a questionable morality. He was there to earn a living from the gambling industry and often people considered him to be weighing the odds in his own favour so that he could take the cream of the situation and be the winner, every time. These days, with the predominance of online betting, the bookie is often not one individual, but an established business.

The Online Bookie

If gambling in general – and online gambling in particular – is illegal in your country, your nation’s officials will probably look on gambling websites with as frowny and judgmental an eye as your elderly aunts and uncles looked on individual bookies in the old days.

How Your Lucky Streak Could Hurt the Bookie

If you get on a lucky streak and win too often, you are actually in danger of having your betting account compromised or even shut down by your bookie or the gambling website you frequent. In the Guardian newspaper, this shutting down of so-called winning bettors has turned into a bit of a trend in 2015. Truth be told, punters and bookies have been head to head over these kinds of issues for centuries and it’s an interesting battle.

How the Bookie Must Survive

While you might be punting for pleasure or a hobby, the bookie on the other end of your bet is making a living from this. Without him, you can’t place your bet and either win or lose. But if you’re a psychic, or know the game really well, and every one of your bets is true and redeemable, you might put the bookie in a position where he has no money. When bookies were working on their own, often in contradiction to the law, they were more exposed to this danger than they are these days. Just remember, if your account is suddenly shut down, you should feel flattered, not hurt.